Nutritional Ketosis via a ketosis diet

Achieving Nutritional Ketosis

Well I’m back at it, and excited to be back on a ketosis inducing diet!

This time around is going to be a bit different as I am starting out with better baseline numbers for measuring my heart health. You see, today I went and had my blood drawn for an NMR lipid profile, as well as an APO-B test. These tests are much better at deducing your risk for developing heart disease than the standard lipid profile your doctor gives you.

Nutrional Ketosis Reset

I’m pretty sure I have undone any good I believe I had done on my previous LCFH diet. I know that I achieved nutritional ketosis (measured by blood) and I felt great. That being said, I have been way out of ketosis for the last 3 months (by choice sort of) and my waste line is showing it! I have not been eating a ketosis diet at all for 3 months because of a trip to Africa.

The decision to start eating carbs again was not an easy one. I love the weight just melted off when I was in ketosis. I also love how I felt. I know everyone says this – and I don’t mean to be cliche – but I really did have tons of energy, I loved running / working out (actually I think when I ketosis you almost HAVE TO WORKOUT to burn off the extra energy). I slept better, my bowl movements were crazy regular, I had no heart burn, my mood was incredibly positive, I NEVER felt hungry – even after fasting… and then I threw all that down the toilet!

Why I voluntarily when out of Ketosis

I went to Africa! I volunteer with a charity that builds schools for Orphans in Africa and in November I went to Africa for 3 weeks. I knew that it would be impossible to stay in ketosis and continue eating a low carb diet. I also knew that the transition back to carbs would wreak havoc on my body (which it did) and so in mid October I started eating carbs again.

At first I ate only a slice of bread, then some rice with dinner, then some corn and other “off limits” foods. At first it gave me anxiety and I hated doing it. It was the right decision though, because in Africa we ate a lot of rice and beans. I also had fruits (primarily bananas and mango’s) and avocado’s. There was not a lot of meat, and the meat was not high fat. I did take some coconut oil supplements to “minimize” the damage, but I was definitely not in ketosis while in Africa.

Sugar addiction is no joke!

It wasn’t long before I tried my first pop in months. At first it tasted crazy sweet, but over time my tasted buds became adapted to that sweetness. I drank a fair amount of soda’s while in Africa. I have only had a couple since returning, but the point is that I CAN drink a soda without being grossed out.

So for the last 3 months, I’ve been eating carbs and I have undone everything I had achieved last year from achieving ketosis on an LCHF diet. The effects of the carbs and sugars on my body have been crazy.

Since this post is getting to long already – I’ll give you a quick summary.

I’ve gained 13 pounds (in only 3 months)

I’ve had chest pains

I’ve had heart burn

I don’t sleep as well

My mood has been “blah”…

I’m lacking energy

I have a hard time getting out of bed in the mornings

I’ve been constipated more than a few times

and the list goes on and on. The worst part is – I haven’t been eating as many carbs as I used to eat! Now I’ll be the first to admit – I haven’t exactly eaten what the anti nutritional ketosis crowd would call “heatlhy grains” (I don’t think there is such a thing) – and I’ve eaten fast food a few times, but I haven’t eaten it that much, and I have still eaten more fat than I used to. For example – I’ve been putting butter and coconut oil in my coffee – I’ve been eating breakfasts of bacon and eggs and haven’t had hash browns or toast with them (like I used to). At dinner I’ve only had starches or grains (potato’s or rice) a few times. So even with the limited number of carbs, I’ve still had all those ill effects.

So today, I began my own personal N=1 experiment on nutritional ketosis. It began with my blood work and a bunch of measurments and a picture. But this time – my lchf, ketosis inducing diet is going to be different and I’m going to measure and monitor things better.